Abstract:
The Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi is the large governmental unit. There are 4 sides surrounded by streets where travelling to the site can be achieved in several ways. There are also a variety of housing types with different price levels around the area. The author is therefore interested in the method of choosing housing locations and travelling to work. The objective of this research is to study the characteristics and location of residences and travelling to work behaviors. In addition, this research studies the relationship between housing and the workplace. The collection of the sampling unit is 367 samples. It was shown from the study results that most of the samples were single and female aged between 25-29 years old. They had 1-3 years of work experience with a salary level between 18,001-21,000 baht. Most of them lived in Nonthaburi. The type of houses are single house or a twin house with about 2 people living together, mostly their own parents. House rental prices cost around 2,501-3,000 baht/month. At all income levels, the reason for samples to select the living location was the convenience of travelling while they drove to work alone and it took 16-30 minutes. The reason to choose this travel method was also convenience with the cost around 21-50 baht/day. The travel method with the highest cost was for those who had no car in which half of them considered that traveling by taxi was the most expensive way to go to work. In terms of the relationship between housing and the workplace, it was concluded that most of samples of all income groups resided around 10 kilometers from their workplace. The cost of travel was around 5.53% of their income whereas the housing costs accounted for 13.49% of income. The economic and travel factors included salary levels, cost of accommodation, travel costs, and travel methods that affected the selection of their residence. Most of the samples in one group rented their accommodation around 5 kilometers from Ministry of Public Health. The group with middle to low income level rented an apartment/dormitory to stay alone with a rental rate of 2,000-2,500 baht/month. If 2 people lived together, they were usually friends and the rental cost was 2,501-3,000 baht/month. They went to work by bus or by personal motorcycle rather than by car. Those with at a middle to high income level chose to stay alone in the form of an apartment/dormitory with a rental cost of 2,501-3,000 baht/month and went to work by car. If 2 person lived together, they tended to be friends staying in a condominium with the rental rate of 4,501-5,000 baht/month and they went to work by bus. It can be seen that every group selected the residing locations for the same reason, which is convenience of travelling to work. This convenience can be different depending on the level of income where this does not only relate to flexibility and distance but also the travelling method, cost and travel time.